Managers are central to any fuction in a complex and developed society. Their talents are reckoned to be cardinal in developed economies and a basic yearning of all developing economies.In order to survive and produce results in a turbulent and transient environment, the task is to understand the nature of factors contributing to managerial effectiveness. This study is an attempt towards this core issue of the present from a different perspective. This study tries to focus attention on a group of managers functioning in the field of banking, a core sector in the country's economy. The gamut of economic activities in Kerala being predominantly service-oriented, importance of commercial banking is almost indisputable. Though economists would argue that the disproportionate development of service sector is anomalous when viewed against the hazy scenarios in the primary and secondary sectors of the state’s economy, the extent and pace of growth in the banking sector has had its dole meted out by ambitious and productive managers fiinctioning in the field. Researcher’s attempt here is to thresh the grain and chaff among bank managers in terms of their effectiveness and to account for the variations in the light of their ability to affect the thoughts and actions of their subordinates. To put it succinctly, the attempt herein is to explain the effectiveness of bank managers in the light of their ‘Power Profile’ taken to be comprising Power Differentials, Power Bases, their Visibility and Credibility in the organisation and, the Power Styles typically used by them for influencing subordinates.

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Sajeeve,V P; Dr.George, Varghese K(Cochin University Of Science And Technology, May 18, 2004)

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Abstract:

In spite of the far longed practices of technical analysis by many
participants in Indian stock market, none have arrived at the exact position of
technical analysis as a tool for foretelling share prices. There is no evidence
supporting that one has established its definite role in predicting the behaviour of
share price and also to see the extent of validity (how far reliable) of technical tools
in Indian stock market. The problem is the vacuum in the arena of securities market
analysis where an unrecognised tool is practised, i.e., whether to hold on to technical
analysis or to drop it. Again, as already stated in this chapter, its validity need not
continue forever. It may become futile as happened in developed markets.
Continuous practice of a tool, which is valid only during discontinuous times is also
an error. The efficacy of different market phenomena in terms of their ability to
foretell the extent and direction of the price movements and reliability thereof
remain as not yet proved in. This requires further study in this area so that this
controversy may be settled. A solution to the problem requires enquiring and
establishing the applicability of technical analysis, if any, there is in the Indian stock
market. The study has the following two broad objectives for the purpose of
confirming the applicability, if any, of technical analysis in the Indian stock market.
The first objective is to ascertain the current validity of ‘traditional holding with
respect to patterns’ and the second objective is to ascertain the ‘consistent
superiority’, if any, of technical indicators over non-signal strategies in return
generation. The study analyses the five patterns, which are widely known and
commonly found in publications. They are: (1) Symmetrical Triangles, (2) Rising
Wedges, (3) Falling Wedges, (4) Head and Shoulders Top and (5) Head and
Shoulders Bottom.

Description:

School Of Management Studies
Cochin University Of Science And Technology

There is an increasing demand for renewable energies due to the limited availability of fossil and nuclear fuels and due to growing environmental problems. Photovoltaic (PV) energy conversion has the potential to contribute significantly to the electrical energy generation in the future. Currently, the cost for photovoltaic systems is one of the main obstacles preventing production and application on a large scale. The photovoltaic research is now focused on the development of materials that will allow mass production without compromising on the conversion efficiencies. Among important selection criteria of PV material and in particular for thin films, are a suitable band gap, high absorption coefficient and reproducible deposition processes capable of large-volume and low cost production. The chalcopyrite semiconductor thin films such as Copper indium selenide and Copper indium sulphide are the materials that are being intensively investigated for lowering the cost of solar cells. Conversion efficiencies of 19 % have been reported for laboratory scale solar cell based on CuInSe2 and its alloys.
The main objective of this thesis work is to optimise the growth conditions of materials suitable for the fabrication of solar cell, employing cost effective techniques. A typical heterojunction thin film solar cell consists of an absorber layer, buffer layer and transparent conducting contacts. The most appropriate techniques have been used for depositing these different layers, viz; chemical bath deposition for the window layer, flash evaporation and two-stage process for the absorber layer, and RF magnetron sputtering for the transparent conducting layer. Low cost experimental setups were fabricated for selenisation and sulphurisation experiments, and the magnetron gun for the RF sputtering was indigenously fabricated. The films thus grown were characterised using different tools. A powder X-ray diffractometer was used to analyse the crystalline nature of the films. The energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and scanning electron microscopy
i
(SEM) were used for evaluating the composition and morphology of the films. Optical properties were investigated using the UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer by recording the transmission/absorption spectra. The electrical properties were studied using the two probe and four probe electrical measurements. Nature of conductivity of the films was determined by thermoprobe and thermopower measurements. The deposition conditions and the process parameters were optimised based on these characterisations.

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Sindhu, S; Dr.Anantharaman, M R(Cochin University of Science and Technology, April , 2001)

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Abstract:

The objectives of the proposed work are preparation of ceramic nickel zinc ferrite belonging to the series Ni1-XZnXFe2O4 with x varying from 0 to 1in steps of 0.2, structrural, magnetic and electrical characterization of Ni1-XZnXFe2O4, preparation and evaluation of Cure characteristics of Rubber Ferrite Composites (RFCs), magnetic characterization of RFCs using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), electrical characterization of RFCs and estimation of magnetostriction constant form HL parameters. The study deals with the structural and magnetic properties of ceramic fillers, variation of coercivity with composition and the variation of magnetization for different filler loadings are compared and correlated. The dielectric properties of ceramic Ni1-XZnXFe2O4 and rubber ferrite composites containing Ni1-XZnXFe2O4 were evaluated and the ac electrical conductivity (ac) of ceramic as well as composite samples can be calculated by using a simple relationship of the form ac = 2f tan 0r, with the data available from dielectric measurements. The results suggest that the ac electrical conductivity is directly proportional to the frequency

Present work deals with the Preparation and characterization of high-k aluminum oxide thin films by atomic layer deposition for gate dielectric applications.The ever-increasing demand for functionality and speed for semiconductor applications requires enhanced performance, which is achieved by the continuous miniaturization of CMOS dimensions. Because of this miniaturization, several parameters, such as the dielectric thickness, come within reach of their physical limit. As the required oxide thickness approaches the sub- l nm range, SiO 2 become unsuitable as a gate dielectric because its limited physical thickness results in excessive leakage current through the gate stack, affecting the long-term reliability of the device. This leakage issue is solved in the 45 mn technology node by the integration of high-k based gate dielectrics, as their higher k-value allows a physically thicker layer while targeting the same capacitance and Equivalent Oxide Thickness (EOT). Moreover, Intel announced that Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) would be applied to grow these materials on the Si substrate. ALD is based on the sequential use of self-limiting surface reactions of a metallic and oxidizing precursor. This self-limiting feature allows control of material growth and properties at the atomic level, which makes ALD well-suited for the deposition of highly uniform and conformal layers in CMOS devices, even if these have challenging 3D topologies with high aspect-ratios.
ALD has currently acquired the status of state-of-the-art and most preferred deposition technique, for producing nano layers of various materials of technological importance. This technique can be adapted to different situations where precision in thickness and perfection in structures are required, especially in the microelectronic scenario.

Description:

Department of Instrumentation,
Cochin University of Science and Technology

Files in this item: 1

Bipinbal, P K; Dr.Sunil,Narayanankutty K(Cochin University Of Science And Technology, October 18, 2012)

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Abstract:

Use of short fibers as reinforcing fillers in rubber composites is on an
increasing trend. They are popular due to the possibility of obtaining anisotropic
properties, ease of processing and economy. In the preparation of these composites
short fibers are incorporated on two roll mixing mills or in internal mixers. This is a
high energy intensive time consuming process. This calls for developing less energy
intensive and less time consuming processes for incorporation and distribution of
short fibers in the rubber matrix. One method for this is to incorporate fibers in the
latex stage. The present study is primarily to optimize the preparation of short
fiber- natural rubber composite by latex stage compounding and to evaluate the
resulting composites in terms of mechanical, dynamic mechanical and thermal
properties. A synthetic fiber (Nylon) and a natural fiber (Coir) are used to evaluate
the advantages of the processing through latex stage. To extract the full reinforcing
potential of the coir fibers the macro fibers are converted to micro fibers through
chemical and mechanical means.
The thesis is presented in 7 chapters

Description:

Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology,
Cochin University of Science and Technology

The present study on the preparation , characterization and microwave dielectric properties of AnBn-1O3n (N=5,6,8) type perovskite compounds. The explored ceramics show dielectric constant between 11 and 54,quality factor in the range 2400 to 88900 GHz and Tf in the range -73 to +231ppm/0C.Most of the investigated cation deficient hexagonal perovskites show intermediate dielectric constant with high quality factors. This study gives a general introduction about material, scientific and technological aspects of DRs.Three important ,€r ,Q and Tf, used for the DR characterization are described. The relationship of the above parameters with the fundamental material characteristics is discussed. Different modes are excited when a DR is excited with suitable microwave spectrum of frequencies .A description of analytical determination of frequencies and construction of mode charts used for sample design and mode identification are also discussed. In this study several ceramics are developed for DR purposes, very little attention has been paid to grow the single crystals. It might be due to the fact that the difficulties and time involved in the growth of single crystals, big enough to function as microwave resonators make them expensive .However single crystals of these materials may have very high Q values. It is also possible that a better understanding of the dielectric properties in relation to the structure can be arrived using single crystals. Hence one of the future directions of dielectric resonator research should be to grow good quality single crystals of the above materials.

In this work. Sub-micrometre thick CulnSe2 films were prepared using different
techniques viz, selenization through chemically deposited Selenium and Sequential
Elemental Evaporation. These methods
are simpler than co-evaporation technique, which is known to be the most suitable
one for CulnSe2 preparation. The films were optimized by varying the composition
over a wide range to find optimum properties for device fabrication. Typical absorber
layer thickness of today's solar cell ranges from 2-3m. Thinning of the absorber
layer is one of the challenges to reduce the processing time and material usage,
particularly of Indium. Here we made an attempt to fabricate solar cell with absorber
layer of thickness <lmum. Here In2S3 was used as the buffer layer, replacing toxic CdS.

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Kochu Baby, Manjooran S; Dr.Kuriakose, A P(Cochin University of Science and Technology, April 15, 1998)

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Abstract:

Petroleum, a mixture of organic compounds, comes from
underground rock formations ranging in age from ten to several
hundred million years. The process by which it is formed and
developed is not yet completely known. Studies indicate that petroleum
is formed mainly from microscopic-sized marine animals and plants.
When these organisms died in water of low oxygen content, they
did not decompose. Thus their remains sank to the bottom to
be buried under accumulations of sediment. Their conversion to petroleum remains a subject of research even today.

Description:

Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology,
Cochin University of Science and Technology

Coral Reefs are marine, biogenic, wave resistant carbonate structures,
formed of the skeletal remains of hermatypic, or reef building organisms.
The main reef builders are calcifying Rhodophytes, molluscs, sponges, polychaetes and Cnidarians. Among them, scleractinian corals and hydrocorallians are by far the most important contributors to the formation of reefs. Coral reefs cover approximately 600 thousand square kilometers of the earth's surface (Crossland fl a_1., 1991) which is about 2x106 square kilometres of tropical oceans.

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This study analyses the role of the Press Council as
a champion and guard of free speech. It discusses the
extent to which the Council succeeded in achieving its
statutory objective of preserving the freedom of the
press and maintaining and improving the standards of
newspapers and news agencies. It also examines the
inherent and in-built weaknesses of the Council and
suggests ways and means for restructuring and enlarging
its functions.